Excellose Polish

[ian12]

Hi

Has anyone used Excellose Polish - they claim it can be padded in the usual french polished manner.

Its meant to be harder wearing with it 50/50 mix.

Ian

[B. Howard]

Thought I had tried every way known to finish wood.....guess not. Never heard of it. Never known anyone to mix shellac and nitro. what is the solvent? If your going to deal with Lacquer thinner and fumes, why not just use lacquer? it's tougher. Brush grade is available if you don't want to spray.

[Jim_H]

Brian,

I don't think he's saying that it uses shellac. I think he's just suggestion that the application process is similar.

I've no experience with it either, so I can't say for sure. That's just how I read it.

[B. Howard]

I checked the manufacturers site.

https://vault2.secured-url.com/frenchpo ... ishes.html

Scroll down and you'll notice it is listed as a 50/50 mix of shellac and nitro.

[Jim_H]

oh.. wow.. sorry!

I just looked at some of those products. very interesting indeed...

[ian12]

I was told that the solvent for polishing was alcohol - haven't tried it just thought I would ask the question.

Ian

[B. Howard]

Interesting....typical nitrocellulose will not dissolve in alcohol. All I can say is give it a try and let us know how it works. As always when dealing with a new material or process, you should run some sample boards for evaluation.

[ian12]

A quick update on the excellose polish - I received a free sample from my supplier with some thinners aswell (which is just ceullose thinners)

The polish is 50/50 mix of nitro and shellac, I found the cut to be too thick so I thinned it 1 part polish 2 parts thinner.

I applied it the same way as normal FP and added some oil to prevent sticking, it goes on very well and it dries very hard.

I did about 5-6 sessions which was over a epoxy pore fill, after 3 sessions I cut it back with 3200 micromesh put on another 3 sessions and let it set for a day. I then used 3M finesse with a car polisher followed by mcguires show glaze and it was very glossy. It's quite a bit harder than the shellac by its self as I found just using shellac the 3M finesse would remove this quite easy even after sitting for a week.

Thumbs up from me.

Ian

[B. Howard]

Thanks for the report, Glad it's working for you. So By your reply it looks like lacquer thinner is the vehicle and not alcohol. Think I'll stay with button-lac, it's hard enough for a gym floor.

[Tarhead]

So By your reply it looks like lacquer thinner is the vehicle and not alcohol. Think I'll stay with button-lac, it's hard enough for a gym floor.

Lacquer Thinner can disolve Shellac. It has Methanol and Ethyl Acetate among other ingredients and these solvents work on Shellac like they do on Lacquer. Shellac with Lacquer Thinner is called a Padding Finish like Mohawk's Rapid Pad, Lacover and Golden Rapid-Pad. Lacover is a high build, Rapid pad is a general purpose and Golden is used as a topcoat. These are mainly used in touch-up of antique furniture. I wonder how they would work on a Guitar?